I prepared and delivered 4 bible studies in March, so while I consider 'blogging' properly during May, I'll post notes for each of the bible studies here - they read like essays so they should make sense!? While I'm doing so hopefully I'll get back in the groove of posting regularly.
So here's Part 1:
First off read Psalm 40
Psalm 40: 1
“I waited patiently on the Lord and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.”
Context:
This is the penultimate psalm in the first of the 5 books of psalms. It bears many similarities with the next, psalm 41. The theme of the first book is introductory in some sense and they are in main prayers that have stemmed from situations of distress punctuated with statements of confidence in God’s singular ability to save.
Psalm 40 and 41 are pretty much an exclamation mark on this collection of prayers and songs. There are too reflections on ethics and worship in the previous 39.
Here David writes the first 10 verses as a reflection on past mercies to be thankful for and in verses 6 to 8 he reminds the Old Testament reader (and us) that the sacrificial system was worthless if separated from faith, repentance and obedience. Religiosity is being guarded against and reminds us that we must be cautious in our obedience not to be trying to placate God.
We are going to look at 3 things contained in verse 1.
1. David’s wait.
2. David’s prayer.
3. God will come.
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1. David’s wait.
What does it mean to ‘wait’ on someone? Or rather to ‘wait patiently’? One hardly gets the impression here that David is tapping his foot with his arms folded, hence the ‘patiently’, but it neither gives the impression that David is casual in his waiting either. He is though waiting with a degree of confidence. He can be patient as he knows the Lord will arrive.
We in this modern age are impatient. At traffic lights, in queues we tap our toes or the steering wheel and we tut and harrumph. With each other we are emotionally impatient and easily frustrated by others actions, manner, behaviour, traits and individualisms. It has been said that now the average time we will wait for the PC egg timer is a mere 15 seconds. After this we start tapping and re-tapping buttons, shortly after this we consider shutting the computer down. Utter madness. Sit in someone’s company for 1 minute and say nothing and do nothing. Many cannot.
But here David takes the pace out of his expectations; he waits on an eternal God, to whom time does not apply. Time is our measurement of events in an order we can understand and relate other events to. God has no need for this as all events and all time is his to do with as he pleases. He controls nature – the Red Sea parting. He controls the sun – when it paused in the sky for Joshua (Joshua 10), He controls nature and animals – the ark, Elijah’s ravens, the plagues on Egypt.
He IS the creator God – Colossians 1: 16 tells us –
“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:”
So David explains to us what we know, but we often fail to recognise fully. We can be patient and confident in our Lord. He is longsuffering, utterly Holy... He is the God of glory, love, grace, goodness wrath and mercy. He is immutable/unchanging. He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and Sovereign over all.
When we have a God who is all these things, why should we concern ourselves with if, when and how he will answer our prayers... He surely knows better than us?!
David’s experiences of God here have always been that in every instance God’s will is carried out and prayers are answered. His patience in waiting on the Lord is borne of faith, despite the fact that as David writes this it shows us that he has been sat on this concern for sometime and it was wearing on him greatly. David knows well that He will incline to us and hear our cries – we can know this ourselves when we read 1 John 5: 13 – 15
“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”
This inclination of God “unto me” suggests also a personal relationship that God takes seriously. On David’s part it demonstrates a deep reverence and an almost astonishment that the Almighty creator God would stoop to hear his petitions. Yet it also lends itself to David’s understanding that God WILL do so when he cries out to Him. David realises that God’s inclining to him is utterly unmerited and gracious, but also that He is not a fickle God and will faithfully lean close to him when David waits on Him.
We can see this reverence of and trust in the Lord in Psalm 17: 6, 7 where David had previously called upon the God who hears and inclines to us.
The patience stems not from an assumption that David is in a queue, but rather that as a Sovereign God He will incline himself to answer David’s prayer when the Lord wills it to be right, not at David’s convenience. We can, can we not, be so petulant and spoiled in our petitions? This reverential deference to God’s good will is an example to us all that our prayers are not a list of demands; they are not negotiations with the Almighty. David here understands that he is subject to God and His will and cannot demand that the Lord should respond.
He is rather saying ‘I’m crying out Lord. I’m putting my trust in you in these things, I know you will listen and answer and that your Sovereign will be done’.
Next post: David's Prayer. Read it here.
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